White Mountain Labs, the innovative leader in test and characterization of advanced technologies, announced today the addition of its new Automated Test Equipment (ATE) business segment, ClearTest ATE Services. Offering an experienced, test-engineering staff, along with expert development systems, ClearTest ATE Services will provide semiconductor manufacturers with complete test engineering solutions.
White Mountain Labs ClearTest ATE Services will operate as an outlet for fabless companies that are not equipped with the time, money and technically experienced staff needed to build test solutions internally. Utilizing an expert management team and in-house ATE equipment, ClearTest ATE Services is poised to provide test solution development and data analysis in timeframes that are best in class.
To oversee the new ATE Services division, White Mountain Labs has brought in five industry veterans and professionals who possess the specialized skill sets and abilities to build complex test solutions for semiconductor products. Leading the team is John McCaffrey, vice president of new business development, who brings more than 20 years of ATE product and test engineering experience from his work with industry leaders such as Freescale Semiconductor and Brooktree Corporation (now a division of Conexant Systems).
"Our skilled test development team has more than 100 years of combined product and test engineering experience and will leverage this knowledge to provide superior results to the customer," said John McCaffrey. "Our team has collectively taken more than 75 products from first-silicon to production during their careers and we are confident that this experience will provide our customers with the highest possible quality of service and the shortest possible cycle times."
To offer support on multiple ATE systems, ClearTest will use both in-house and outsourced ATE test systems. The company will support development on all of today's popular platforms, including the Teradyne J750, Flex and Ultraflex; Verigy 93000; and Eagle ETS-364.
"Many complaints I hear about outside testing houses is how they "˜over commit' and "˜under deliver'," John McCaffrey continued. "Because test engineering projects can take up to six weeks or more, we understand the need to provide first-class communication with our customers throughout the process. That is why we assign a project manager who works closely with the customer to ensure that the schedule and logistics are conveyed along with an exceptional quality of service."
One of ClearTest's key areas of expertise is the complete electrical characterization of semiconductor products over extremes of temperature, voltage and process variation. The company utilizes a systematic approach that involves collecting large quantities of electrical data on the ATE platform and then statistically reducing that data using Syntricity's DataConductor, an industry leading data analysis tool. The end result is a clear, concise and organized report that graphically displays exactly how the customer's device will perform across all specification conditions. Customers can then archive the electronic report and refer back to it over the life of the product to better understand future yield variations and temperature marginalities.
In addition to electrical characterizations, ClearTest ATE Services will offer full-test solution development (hardware and software), statistical test limit evaluations, test-time reductions and multi-site conversions. White Mountain Labs will also leverage its industry leading expertise in ESD testing by offering a combined service with pre- and post-verification testing on the ATE system, allowing for full-service ESD test outsourcing with qualification-ready results.
About White Mountain Labs
White Mountain Labs was founded in December 1999 based on the conviction that a systematic approach to highly technical, "niche" semiconductor testing could produce clear data, enabling engineers to be successful in developing innovative products. White Mountain Labs started as a prototype lab system for test and characterization of Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) and Latch-up in Integrated Circuits and has since expanded into ATE (Automated Test Equipment) test engineering services. More than 5,000 projects have been successfully completed for more than 100 semiconductor companies in the past 7 years, including numerous customers in the UK, Europe and Israel. White Mountain Labs is an ISO17025 accredited ESD and Latch-up test facility performing testing to standards prescribed by the ESD Association, JEDEC, Mil-Std and the Automotive Electronics Council (AEC). For more information visit the company's Web site at http://www.whitemountainlabs.com.
